Peppers and Blogiversary!

I made these. They were awesome.

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And look!:

Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com!

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Can you believe it’s been a year already? WOW!

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Have a wonderful week!

Oversharing Sunday

Some cooking has happened lately, photos to come. Mostly, I’ve been stressed out and yes, possibly burnt out. I guess everyone feels this way sometimes. They used to call it “Spring Fever”.

New do: This is a huge deal, more in my head than on it, but isn’t that always the way? It’s the first time I’ve gone all-out in a long time. It was cathartic.

Goodbye nail: Also in the cathartic change column, my long-infected toenail decided to depart. I was grateful to see it go, and am now taking extra-special care of the new growth and the bed, hoping that the cause left along with it.

Saw a show over the weekend. It was nice to get out and experience culture. I tend to hole myself in sometimes.

Saw an old friend who I haven’t seen in a while, and that was really nice. Had takeout pizza, but at least it had vegetables on it, and she brought us homemade tabbouleh for a starter. Yum!

Enjoyed dinner out, and ordered off the healthier choices section. Felt good that I had delicious salad and bread, but didn’t overdo it. Also felt good that I was plenty full and still was able to take home leftovers. I think you can make good choices eating out- you don’t have to deprive yourself of anything, but you don’t have to treat your stomach like a dumping ground, either. Balance.

Have a wonderful week!

Wordless Wednesday: Stir Fry and Bread

Special Soup

Thank you all for your concern! I did eventually heal, it just took a little longer than I would’ve liked. Was it the flu? Who knows… Folk wisdom says that if there’s no fever, and your stomach is ok, then it’s just a cold. But, whatever you want to call it, it had me in its throes for about 2 weeks, which was flu enough for me.

I need to go back to the health food store and re-find the cough syrup I used to take years ago. This time around, the illness came so suddenly that I was just scrambling for whatever was around. So, I ended up trying just about anything and everything, depending on where I was and what was happening with my body. I *hate* cough syrup. So much. But, I drank it because I felt that lousy. There used to be a natural cough syrup out there that tasted good and worked. I have no idea what this mystery product was, or who made it, but I’m hoping I can recognize it by sight. Is this too much to ask years later? Possibly. But, I figure it’s worth trying.

When I thought I was well enough, I did (what was supposed to be) a little grocery shopping. Of course, I came back with what felt like half the store, and I completely over-exerted myself before I was ready. Yeah, that thing about medicine masking symptoms? True. Soup didn’t happen that day, needless to say. But, the next day, I just took my time and tried my memory, and made my special soup.

I am especially picky when it comes to soup, or rather, my stomach is extremely sensitive when it comes to soup. Commercial soups make me sick. I suspect it’s the preservatives, but it may also be the high sodium content. When I make soup for myself, it’s completely from scratch. Pre-packaged broth generally does not sit well. So, insofar as the general public goes, my soups are probably a little bland. But, for me, they’re perfect.

There’s no recipe for my special soup. I make it depending on what I am in the mood for, or what I have around. This time, there was a smidge of kale, a potato, some carrot shreds, some celery, some squash, some onion, some nutritional yeast, and probably a few other things that I’m forgetting. A perfect veggie counterpart to the traditional chicken soup.

Enjoy!

Love and Food

How do I know you love me?

You gave me food when things were horrible and you knew I was living on french fries and Cheerios.

You bought me rice milk the first time I came over, and continue to do so, even though you love your whole milk like someone in a commercial.

Peanut butter is one of your favorite foods, but you don’t eat it when I’m around because you don’t want me to get sick.

You went out of your way to make foods I liked, even though up until then everyone in my life said cooking for me was difficult. What’s even more meaningful is that you still do it.

You got me to try foods I thought I couldn’t eat, and feel safe enough to do so.

You support my blogging, even though your natural skill in the kitchen far surpasses my creative attempts.

Quick and Easy Bowtie Pasta

Have you ever been so sick that cooking was just not an option? Well, that was last week for me. By the end of it, I was craving veggies like you wouldn’t believe, but was still not up to a trip to the grocery store. Solution? This quick and easy pasta.

1/2 box pasta, diced mozzarella, some garlic, olive oil, and spices, with steam in the bag veggies. It took maybe 20 minutes, tops, to make, and there was enough for several days.

Wordless Wednesday: Italian Sandwich

Mozzarella, Nutritional Yeast, Garlic Powder, Italian Seasonings and Tomato Sauce on whole grain bread. Yum!

Pasta in Progress

This recipe is not yet perfected, but that’s the fun of it. I wanted pasta. I did not want to shop. So, I made this.

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I used:

1/2 box of penne

1 bag of frozen steam in the microwave vegetables

nutritional yeast

rice milk

1/4 stick of cheese

ground pepper

pecorino romano

stovetop and pots, mixing bowl, and food processor

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I was trying to make a pseudo-alfredo with the nutritional yeast, cheese, and rice milk. I am lacto-ovo, but my stomach can’t take real alfredo (milk/cream issues), and I’m allergic to the most common vegetarian/vegan substitutes (soy/nut issues), so I was trying to make a version I can actually eat.

I steamed the veggies and then processed them, and added them to the sauce. No problem there. If the sauce had been cheesier, this would’ve been even better. So, it’s almost there, but not quite. Because of the veggies and high quantity of nutritional yeast, this felt like good fuel. Plus, I had enough for days, which is always nice.

This was a lot of fun for me- one of those puzzles that requires ingenuity.

I can’t wait to figure this one out!

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Sunday Stuff

Quiet week in blogland. Sorry about that. I’ve only made a few noteworthy dishes this week. Those posts are forthcoming. In the meantime, here’s what I’ve been up to.

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Watching The Biggest Loser: Now that the behind the scenes of this show have been brought to light, and what we found out wasn’t so pretty, it’s hard not to have feelings about this show. Then Jillian Michaels came out, I read part of her book website, and found both inspiring. So, I watched the premier, and while there was a lot I didn’t like, there were also things I did. Mostly, it’s the drive of the contestants that amazes me- people doing things they never thought possible. Once the reality show politics come into play, I might not feel as motivated. But for now, I’ll take the motivation.

Watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead: Doesn’t it sound morbid? I thought it did. But, then I watched the trailer. The film follows one man in his goal to just consume freshly made juices for an extended period of time. On the way, he manages to lose weight, meet people, and inspires others to try a Reboot, as he calls it.

Like Biggest Loser, there is a commercial aspect to this film. But unlike Biggest Loser, I didn’t feel it was in my face while watching the film itself. I only came upon this aspect later, when going to his website. As a film, I liked the personal approach, and the story about a truck driver he meets. It felt more real, less scripted, and inspiring.

For better or for worse, someone on The Biggest Loser said something about a Carbitarian, and that rang true. Then Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead emphasized just how many nutrients veggies really give you. Takeway: I should eat more veggies!

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Watched the premier of Cyndi Lauper’s show: I suppose I should state here that I actually hate reality shows as a genre. Yet, here I am, mentioning two of them. This show is probably geared toward women who were affected by Cyndi Lauper’s music in the 80s, and for that purpose, it’s “good enough”. But while the show was entertaining, it was not entertaining enough for me to watch on their schedule. The network website used to have the full-length first episode online, which led me to believe they’d all be online. Well, I guess they aren’t, so I guess I’m not watching.

Tried Command Hooks and Command Strips for the first time: My friends and family love these products. I, on the other hand, do not. What a waste of a day trying to get these things to work! In the end, I just took out a drill and hanging hardware, and was finished in 5 minutes.

Watched a lot of Star Trek Voyager: Perfect for crampy days spent indoors.

Wanted to make scrambled eggs but didn’t: Because I didn’t feel like doing errands (like buying eggs) whilst crampy. So, I made other things for breakfast instead, like yogurt bowls and the Crockpot Oatmeal.

Searched “vegetarian” on WordPress many times, and got annoyed with people including meat in recipes labeled “vegetarian”. Also randomly got annoyed at the excessive use of tofu. Then realized I had pms.

Didn’t drink coffee even though I would love a cup, because it does not play well with my system this time of the month.

Finished the workspace. Which involved the above drilling, and vacuuming, and cleaning out the darn vacuum, and taking out trash, and rigging miniblinds and moving furniture, and a thousand other assorted tasks. But, it’s worth it and a long time in the making.

Did a lot of laundry. Now, that’s blog-worthy!

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Happy Sunday!

Wordless Wednesday: Mozzarella Bagel